New Zealanders are desperately hoping it will not be another white World Cup in the southern hemisphere following England's success in Australia eight years ago, but is the cold snap enveloping much of the country an omen?

No. No, it isn't.

Here in Auckland, we are not trudging through anything, the electrical supply is stable, the airport is open and the weather is actually looking quite nice for the rest of the week.

But yesterday was the coldest day on record: the mercury never climbed beyond a terrifying 8.2º Celsius. It blew like a bastard in the early morning, with emergency calls up threefold as trees came down and things tipped over. And it snowed for only the third time in the past century. Yes, we're calling it snow. When it almost never snows, you don't need more than one word for snow, let alone a word like "graupel".

I was in a meeting at the Museum, talking about the LATE I'm curating in October (details soon), when a dozen staff rushed out the south door. I followed them. We laughed as the snow swirled around us, sighed as it turned to sleet. Hamish Keith, "75 years on the planet" yesterday, got snow on his shoulders in Ponsonby. And a lot of people in the CBD saw this:

The remarkable thing is that 2011 is also the year in which Auckland has seen its warmest February and May on record, and experienced a deadly and destructive tornado. As a simple statement of fact, we have experienced unprecedented extremes of weather.

But not, of course, anything like what was going in in Wellington last night, when I actually started to feel quite worried that my friends were home and safe, and wondered if that poor 3 News reporter doing a live cross from Mt Vic might actually die on camera. But there was also this magical video by Ro Tierney by which to remember the day:

Things were even more extreme in Christchurch, of course, but they don't really complain there any more: they have become experts at nature.

It was so cold and miserable in Mangere yesterday morning that we had 18 kids turn up out of 45, and then in the afternoon, 17 little people came. Round here, there is a general belief that cold=sickness, so yes, I guess all those kids were at home, trying to keep warm in their mostly uninsulated houses, when they could have been here, toasty and warm. Let's see what today brings.

It's an unchanging law of the universe that today can always get more awkward.

I managed to survive the night without too much worry on the Shore. Underfloor insulation, a heater, and a massively overpowerd desktop PC kept my room toasty most of the night. Not so my friend in Ponsonby, who was reduced to literally sitting on her heater most of the night.

It's been cold a few times this year. What made yesterday different was the reckless humidity and torturous wind. It was a bonesoaking day.

Nevertheless, I do find it amusing that the slightest flurry sends great parts of the country into apoplexy, and people start acting as if a disaster is befalling the nation. It's NZ, people. It snows, occasionally.

Hmm, come to think of it, I remember exactly when the last time it snowed in Wellington was, because I was there. 1995, July or August at the latest. I was in Weir House and everybody rushed outside to throw snowballs at each other.

Nevertheless, I do find it amusing that the slightest flurry sends great parts of the country into apoplexy, and people start acting as if a disaster is befalling the nation. It's NZ, people. It snows, occasionally.

Things did actually look pretty dicey in Wellington last night though. People stranded, buses off the road, the electricity flickering on and off. Brrr.

We are stranded at home today in Wellington. Can't drive or walk outside on our mildy hilly street. Several 4 wheel drives have skidded outside trying to get up or down the road.The driveway, footpath and much of the road were covered in snow yesterday but it has thickened overnight and turned icy. Last night it was a struggle walking half a kilometre up a hill from the bus stop - very very slippery. The street lights went out. The electricity flickered off several times. Occasionally in winter there are biggish slips around here, but I'm a long time Wellingtonian and the last time we were really isolated like this was the 1968 Wahine Storm when we couldn't get out for three days.

I do love the fluttery white stuff that falls from the sky, I should say.

Things did actually look pretty dicey in Wellington last night though. People stranded, buses off the road, the electricity flickering on and off. Brrr.

Is this simply a result of building systems around temperate weather assumptions? I don't begrudge Wellington this once, since it literally happens a few times in a century. But other parts of the country seem to fall into helplessness, despite snow being an occasional occurrence.

Currently pouring 20 kW into our house and can’t get the temperature above 15 deg C. Spent more than $30 yesterday alone on heating. Heating bill could be close to $1000 for this month (not including water heating).

In its pre-earthquake state, the house was insulated above code, so I guess the polystyrene that I duct-taped over the place where the house has broken in two isn’t helping much.

The four-year-old is sick, and the seven-month-old fractious (possibly getting sick). The road is 30 cm deep in snow and quite undrivable.

I’m extremely worried that the electricity might cut out – or that we might have another big quake.

In other circumstances I would be loving this snow; not so these days of living in post-apocalypse Avonside.

In other news, I’m spending about six hours per day working on an insurance settlement. It appears that the news is much worse than I originally thought. We lose something like $140,000 on our purchase price (of a couple of years ago); and have to find around another $150,000 on top of that to move elsewhere in Christchurch. I can’t see the banks lending us another $290,000 on top of our existing mortgage (and I wouldn’t want to borrow this much in any case).

So, unless CERA can do a deal on our special circumstances, it looks like we won’t be able to stay in Christchurch.

Sigh - Auckland has it tough - we giggled at the excited Aucklanders on TV last night - if we're lucky, and the current rain/melt doesn't refreeze like it did last time, we'll be able to get our car out tomorrow ....

-1 celcius in the roof of my house this morning. First time the HRV has shown a negative reading. Inside, 16. No heating was on. We had the place insulated this year. It really works. Big power saver.

It's very noticeable in the extension we added last year -- double glazing (that's the rules now) and insulation top and bottom. It does work. In the old lounge, I amused myself by seeing how much ti-tree and old rimu framing from the house I could get going in the Jetmaster at one time.

It's still cold as a bastard here in Dunedin. There is still thick snow everywhere, but this morning it started raining heavily, too. The snow is melting slightly, but also getting icey.While the main roads are open there's not a lot of traffic. I had to make an emergency dash to the supermarket around the corner and was pleasantly surprised to see there was some bread and milk there. (I thought either I'd been beaten by others stocking up or the trucks not getting through; the Kilmog is closed according to the radio).

It's amusing seeing Aucklanders getting excited over a smattering, if that, of snow. Yesterday I had an e-mail from a friend gushing about how snow had fallen in Manuwera which, granted, must've been a somewhat novel and surreal occurence there.

For people who need to walk, slit an old pair of woolly socks or grab a pair of stretchy airline socks inside out, and but them on top of your shoes. Works a treat for packed snow or frost. (Even been scientifically proven in good old Dunedin if I can find the reference)

Ran home from the CBD to Island Bay last night, down Adelaide Road, directly into the southerly. Much as I felt like bit of a martyr for running, hats off to the many more souls I saw cycling home into the storm. Still, it was a magic sight, and when the new flood-lit Wakefield Park came into view (or, at least, became partly visible through the brilliantly illuminated snowflakes), I thought to myself that here's a sight I'll probably never see again.